The Ground Work to Establishing Pack Structure

“THE GROUND WORK”

TO ESTABLISHING PACK STRUCTURE
With ADULT DOGS

The First Steps to Becoming a Pack Leader!

There are a couple of sayings that I use a lot:

1 - “You can feed, water, and love your dog and he will like you, but he very well may not respect you.”

2- “Dogs know what you know and they know what you don’t know.”

This article details how I establish pack structure with an adult dog. This is especially important with dogs that are predisposed to becoming dominant or aggressive.

The information you are about to read is the way we introduce new dogs in our home here at Leerburg. It also explains the way I have gained control over some very tough and dangerous dominant dogs that I have owned over the past 45 plus years of breeding, owning, and training police service dogs.

Becoming a pack leader involves adopting the attitude of a pack leader. It does not involve aggression towards a dog, it doesn’t involve rolling him on his back, hard leash corrections or even raising your voice to the dog. It involves adopting a leader's attitude. This is something that new dog owners must learn how to do.

Every dog knows a leader when he is in the presence of one. They can sense a leader. They don’t need leash corrections to consider their owner a pack leader. In fact inappropriate corrections often result in a dog looking at the offender with contempt rather than respect.

There is an old saying; “Dogs know what you know and they know what you don’t know” This article is going to explain how I show my dog “what I know.” It is also going to explain how I establish responsibility and limits to the relationship I build with my dogs.

The content of this article will mean more to you if you take a minute and read the article I wrote titled “My Philosophy of Dog Training.”

Ed Frawley's Philosophy on Dog Training

eBook

LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH

The vast majority of behavioral problems are caused by mistakes that were made in the basic foundation of how relationships were set up between owners and their dogs.

I call these “mistakes in ground work (GW)” and I define ground work as “that work which involves establishing pack structure with a new dog.“

Many people think that loving a dog is enough to form a good relationship. These people are dead wrong.

Unconditional love is never enough. Love has conditions and boundaries along with mutual trust and respect. Unless humans deal with the respect issue in love they will never have a relationship with a dog in which the dog looks at them as a pack leader.

WHAT IS “GROUND WORK”?

When I talk about GW I am not talking about training a dog to come, or heel, or sit. I am talking about teaching the dog how I plan on living with it. I am talking about how I establish pack structure with a new dog.

The way we handle a dog in our day to day life will teach that dog a great deal about yourself, your pack, and your pack rules.

How and when I do anything with the dog -- whether it is grooming, feeding or exercising him -- along with my general attitude when I am around him will tell the dog volumes about our future realtionship.

I call this the first steps to establishing a family pack structure.

When we bring a new dog into our home the decisions we make on how we live with that dog and the methods used to train that dog have long term implications on what kind of relationship we develop with the dog.

I tell people “they may not think of themselves as a dog trainer, but the fact is every time we are around our dog we are teaching the dog something. The question is “are we teaching it something good or something bad?” Some people don’t know the difference?” Hopefully this article and my DVD’s along with my web site will help people get off on the right foot.

Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet

THE SOLUTIONS TO MOST BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS

The solution to almost all behavioral problems lies within changes owners need to make in the way they live with their dogs.

Unlike humans, dogs live in the present. Human psychologists almost all focus on the past to find answers to current problems. This is fine for a human but it's a mistake to think that this is how to fix a pack animal.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that modifications to training don’t need to be made for a dog that was truly abused. The fact is the term “abuse’ is used far too often when trying to explain behavioral problems.

I always tell pet owners that I never change my philosophy of how to live with or train a dog just because it had a bad experience in the past.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE

I want to make a point here and that is if you currently have a problem with your dog it’s never too late to consider making changes on how you live with your dog.

In fact if you have a problem it’s imperative that YOU DO MAKE CHANGES because the way you have been living with your dog has allowed these problems to manifest.

Never forget what I said: Dogs live in the moment and they miss nothing. The old adage about “not being able to teach an old dog a new trick” is just that – bad old information.

So it’s never too late to turn things around. It’s never too late to start to do things correctly. You just need the patience and confidence in what you are doing to fix your problems.

Theory of Corrections in Dog Training

eBook

EVERYONE HAS AN OPINION

You will quickly learn that everyone has an opinion on how to raise and train your dog. You only need to ask your mailman, your barber or your relatives how to solve your training problems.

If you go to your local Pet Smart warehouse and talk to their trainers or look in their book section you will see stacks of conflicting advice.

The problem is that most people (including a vast majority of instructors) don’t have enough experience to offer sound advice on training -- much less pack structure. This results in a lot of bad information being passed out.

You can go to my web site and read my biography on the experience I bring to the table when I talk about dog training.

WHAT BREEDS NEED GROUND WORK?

This information in this article applies to dogs of all breeds and ages.

Every breed of dog needs good ground work. Dog training is not breed specific. It’s temperament and drive specific.

Every new dog needs to go through a solid ground work program no matter how old the new dog is, no matter what breed the new dog is, no matter how big or small the new dog is, no matter where the dog came from or what it’s background is, and finally no matter what his current level of training is.

Ground work exercises help get dogs under control. They provide new owners experience in learning to handle and control character traits (both learned and genetic) the new dog has.

These GW exercises also result in owners having more confidence in handling their dogs. In fact there is a saying I use “the more ground work, the more experience, the more confidence every new dog owner will have.”

Basic Dog Obedience

MANY RESCUE DOGS GENETICALLY HAVE FAULTY TEMPERAMENTS

Many people who rescue dogs are told their new rescue dog has been abused, when in fact this is not the case.

Many, many, many, dogs are turned into humane societies because they have genetically faulty temperaments or because the dogs lived in homes that did not promote a healthy pack structure.

It’s important to remember that dogs with faulty temperaments are also dogs with pack drives. They just react to the “rank” portion of their pack drive differently than well adjusted house dogs do.

In fact, dogs with faulty temperament often need sound pack structure training more than normal dogs.

I also need to point out that many dogs with temperament issues have these issues as a result of people who own animals and prefer to treat them anthropomorphically (like a human child) rather than as a pack animal and a member of their family pack. This causes HUGE problems.

Some of these people come to their senses when their dogs develop serious dominance problems. Others simply turn the dog in to animal shelters, or worse yet, they have the dogs put to sleep.

THE FIRST WEEKS

When I bring a new adult into our home, I socially isolate the dog for a period of time. With some dogs this may only be for 3 or 4 days. With dominant dogs it can be weeks.

Social isolation means that I take care of the dog's basic needs: feeding, water, walking and a clean place to sleep, but nothing else. I don’t pet the dog, I don’t play with the dog, I don’t talk sweet to the dog. I act like it is not there.

During this social isolation period the only time the dog is out of the crate while in the house is when it is on its way outside.

Crates

ALWAYS ON A LEASH

The instant I let the dog out of the crate I hook a leash to him so he is always under complete control. During this period I never have the dog off leash-- not even when I walk him from the crate to the door.

When the time comes that I do allow him more time out of the crate, he is always on a leash. If I watch TV he is on leash and laying by my feet. If I work on the computer he is on leash tethered to my desk. He does not have free run of the house for months.

In fact when a house dog starts to misbehave in the house (chew or mark) it needs to go back in the crate and stay on leash when it's in the house. Being loose in the house is an earned privilege. Pet owners often forget this.

It becomes crystal clear to the dog that I am in total control of it’s life and his environment. I can’t over emphasise how important that is to a pack animal.

I don’t need to give one correction during this entire time period for the dog to understand that I am the person who controls his life.

Leerburg 6 Ft Amish Leash

The best dog leash in the world

While formal training on an adult dog may not start for several weeks or even a month there is a lot that the dog can learn while you wait.

The dog needs to learn that this is his new home and I am his new pack leader. I want to begin the bonding process before I take it out and expect it to do formal obedience work.

Keeping the dog on leash and controlling every aspect of its life allows for the opportunity to show that I am fair and that I don’t issue unwarranted corrections. Learning to be consistent and fair goes a long way towards forming a respectful 2 way relationship.

During this initial period I never push myself on a new adult dog. In fact, I go out of my way to act aloof to the dog. I make the dog feel like I don’t care about him. I act like taking him outside is a job and I would rather be in Florida or anywhere other than spending time with him. My goal is to teach him that he has to “earn my affection and respect.”

I thought I would include this phhoto of my leash. My 18 month old male was laying right under my office chair while I worked. I had given him a chew toy but was not paying attention. Moral of the story is - don't shoot the dog for your mistake.

So during these first few weeks I take care of the dog by feeding him, giving him water and exercise but I don’t act all GUSSSSHY over him. When I take him for a walk I don’t play with him-- I simply walk him and put him away.

The dog senses an aloof attitude from me. Dogs know that pack leaders are aloof. You don’t see an alpha wolf run around acting like a happy puppy in front of his pack members.

Now with puppies this is obviously different. But that is all covered in my eBook on GROUND WORK FOR PUPPIES.

These concepts are all dealt with in my DVD Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.

Dealing with
Dominant & Aggressive Dogs

THE DOG CRATE

If you are going to do GW on your dog the easiest way is with a dog crate.

If your goal is to have a house dog, it needs to start its life in your home in a dog crate. In the beginning many dogs may not like the crate but they will learn to accept it.

We keep a bowl of all-natural dog treats near our dog crate. Every time I ask the dog to go into the crate I toss a few treats in first. I also feel it should be fed its normal daily rations in the crate.

Some dogs raise holy heck when they are first put in a crate. Giving them a cows knuckle bone or one of our treat balls takes their mind off being confined in the crate.

Putting a sheet over the crate for awhile, so the dog cannot see out, also helps. Screaming and hitting the dog do nothing but increase the dogs stress and confirm that being in the crate only brings bad things.

The bottom line is that the more a dog barks and screams the longer it has to stay in the crate. This article is not about house training. I have written extensively about house training on my web site. If you wish to learn more about house training go to our Leerburg directory of information on house training.

WHAT KIND OF CRATE?

We like to use plastic airline type crates to keep our dogs in. They contain the hair better than wire crates and if there is a mess in the crate they are easier to drag outside and hose down.

I used to recommend wire crates. Over time I changed my mind on them for most people. The wire crates are more secure than a plastic crate. Clips (like those used on dog leashes) can be used to secure the crate door.

With that said, once a dog has learned to break out of an airline crate or one of these wire crates the only option left are the custom built aluminum crates we sell. They are not cheap but no dog will ever break out of them and they last a life time.

PETTING OR PRAISING THE NEW DOG

In the social isolation period I never pet my new dog. After that I pet the dog but only if it does something I have asked it to do and I never over do it.

I am also very careful about when I pet him and what I pet him for. In other words I don’t just walk up to the dog and start to pet him.

The dog has to do something to get a word of praise or a pat on the shoulder. He must sit, or he must wait for me when I tell him to wait at a door or gate and then I will praise him.

Only pet your dog on YOUR TERMS - never when the dog wants to be petted!

What I don't do is pet the dog when he wants to get petted. If the dog comes to me and tries to push his head under my hand in an effort to get petted I verbally scold him and send him away. If it's a strong dominant dog I ignore him and act like he is not there.

Demanding to be petted by an adult dog is a sign of dominance. The dog never decides when it's time to get petted-- the pack leader makes those decisions.

This is a huge pack drive issue. The Alpha member of the pack goes to lower ranking memebers and expects to be groomed.

Who Should Pet Your Puppy

eBook

PLAYING WITH MY DOG

Following in the concept of being aloof for the first weeks, I don’t initially play a lot with my dog. Playing is an earned exercise and when I withhold it for a period of time. It means more to the dog when I finally do start to play with him.

I don’t give new dogs toys. For one thing I want them to have eyes for me. I want them to look at going for walks with me as their enjoyment in life.

Toys can be triggers for aggression. Since I don’t want to fight a dog to take his toy away I simply don’t give a new dog any toys.

I have a philosophy of having to fight with my dog over a dominance issue. That is I never pick a fight with a dog that I will lose. If more people followed that line of thinking there would be a lot less dog bites in this country.

When I eventually allow the dog to have a toy I teach him that ALL TOYS are MY TOYS and I allow him to play with MY TOYS. At the end of a play sessions I take MY TOYS away and put them up. The way I teach that is the subject of a different article.

For now it’s just important to point out that you will never find a basket full of toys sitting around my home. We keep our toys in our “training equipment bag”, which is something that I recommend all dog owners have.

Any playing I eventually do with my new dog is always done on a long line. The dog is never at liberty to run off on his own. Being off leash would go against the concept of you having control 100% of the time.

With time we may graduate from our 33 foot line to our 20 foot cotton lines, a 6 foot Amish leash, or for our family, a remote collar.

Leerburg's 20 Ft. Cotton Line

THE FAMILY PETTING AND PLAYING WITH THE NEW DOG

This may fly in the face of people who want a family dog but the fact is in the beginning I never allow family members to pet or play with a new dog.

My primary goal is to establish a family pack. I can best do this by firmly inserting myself as PACK LEADER. once that is accomplished I can easily step in to help establish the rank of other family members within the pack.

KIDS AND DOGS

I have written very detailed articles on HOW TO PREVENT DOG BITES IN CHILDREN. This section is a very short over-view.

My position on dogs and children is that kids as young as 9 can learn to handle (not train) a dog that is already trained but it should only be in the presence and under the supervision of the primary trainer (husband or wife).

Children younger than 7 are not mature enough to assume the responsibility for handling any dog. They can play around a dog but only in the presence of an adult pack leader.

Dogs must learn that babies and very young children are ALWAYS off limits. Dogs are not allowed near them and are certainly never allowed to play with them. It’s too easy for accidents to happen and when accidents happen with adult dogs and small children they are usually traumatic.

So my words of advice are to err on the side of safety and follow these guidelines.

Children as young as 11 can learn to train a dog but the training should be in the presence of an experienced trainer.

The question often comes up by new pet owners about how to teach the new dog that the small child has a higher rank in the family pack.

My answer is that you don’t try do that. As pack leader you simply establish a rule that the dog is not allowed near the young child, and if it breaks that rule it suffers serious consequences.

I know it’s hard to tell children that they cannot have contact with a new dog, but with this said the dog has to make its bond with you before it makes its bond with the rest of the family.

In my Basic Dog Obedience DVD I explain the rules on how to introduce dogs to children.

NON-FAMILY MEMBERS PETTING MY DOGS

I seldom allow people from outside my immediate family to touch or pet my dog.

These people are not pack members and as such my dog has no need to be petted by them. I wrote an article and did a podcast titled WHO PETS MY PUPPY, you may want to read or listen to it. The same applies to my adult dogs.

FREE PODCAST

WHO PETS MY PUPPY

Click to listen

I get many emails from people who misunderstand this concept. They mistakenly think I am saying to keep the dog away from people. That’s not the case. Dogs need to be socialized around people. They just don’t need to be petted and fawned over by strangers.

I expect my dog to be aloof to strangers. I want to be the center of my dog's universe. If my dog tries to run up and get petted I correct it, if it is in any way aggressive to strangers it is immediately corrected. The level of correction is firm enough that the dog remembers the next time it thinks about acting stupid.

If people come up and pet my dog I politely always ask them to stop. If they ignore that request I get very firm. I am not trying to make friends when I walk my dog, I am trying to become a pack leader for my dog, so if someone's feelings are hurt, tough.

This also goes for dogs that are going to be trained for personal protection or police service work. The pack leader determines who and when to fight, not lower ranking pack members. It would do new trainers well to remember that very important concept.

ALL UNWARRENTED AGGRESSION IS DEALT WITH BY A CORRECTION!

EXERCISE

A very important part of the solution to almost all behavior problems is an appropriate exercise program. So with this said exercise needs to be an important part of every ground work program.

An adult dog that is getting exercised is not a bored dog that has time to worry about getting into trouble or worry about being in his dog crate.

We do need to be a little careful with dogs younger that 12 months of age. Young adults should not go out jogging until they are 14 to 15 months old.

Over exercising a young adult is one of the leading causes (along with over feeding) of hip dysplasia and other skeletal failures.

Owners that have adult dogs with a ton of energy can often use a weighted dog vest when they walk their dogs. These vests give them more bang for their buck when they take a walk.

By far the best form of exercise is swimming with long walks coming in second.

Weighted Dog Vests

Increase your exercise

TAKING DOGS FOR WALKS

When I walk a new dog it is usually wearing a dominant dog collar with or with out a prong collar. These collars will self correct a dog when it pulls into the leash.

A dog that always pulls on the leash does not respect his owner as a pack leader, so I put a stop to it with a prong collar.

Prong Collars

I have written an article titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING. If you want to learn about the kinds of corrections and levels of corrections to use with your dog, I recommend that you read this article.

Most dogs will wear a prong collar without problem. It is important that a prong be properly fit. I always recommend dogs wear a dominant dog collar along with a prong collar.

I have seen too many cases where prong comes apart when the handler givesa hard correction. If the dog has a second collar on at the time, the owner will not find himself trying to catch his dog at a time of high distraction (which is usually the case if you are correcting your dog).

I have written an article on how to fit a prong collar.

How to Fit a Prong Collar

eBook

MEETING OTHER DOGS ON WALKS

dog park

I would never allow this to happen with my dog.
It's a DOG FIGHT WAITING TO HAPPEN!

When I walk my dogs I never allow them to socialize with other dogs that we meet along the way. Read the article I wrote on DOG PARKS and how stupid they are.

Dogs are pack animals and strange dogs are not part of our family pack. In addition the pack rules are clear. It is the pack leader's job is to drive non-pack members away. If he needs help from lower ranking pack members he asks for it.

If I am on a walk and a stray dog approaches I verbally drive the stray away. If the stray continues to approach I get physical with the offender.

Don’t for one minute think that your dog does not see what’s going on. Remember, our dogs are very intuitive and they miss nothing.

When you drive strays away, or put yourself between your dog and a second dog he instinctively recognizes this as the actions of a pack leader.

Once you have set your leadership position a strong dog will defer to your rank and allow you to deal with an intruder as a matter of respect. When people have dogs that go crazy at the sight of another dog, that owner's rank has not been properly established with their dog.

People who follow the policy will also have dogs that are less inclined to fight with another dog they accidently meet when off leash.

I never allow my dogs to socialize with strange dogs. Those people who think they need to socialize their dogs with other dogs are drop dead wrong. These are truly people who don’t understand pack structure and rank drive.

Dog Parks

eBook

DEALING WITH STRAY DOGS

If you do live in an area where there are stray dogs carry pepper spray(bear spray)and gas a dog if it comes close. You can buy it on the internet.

I would also carry a stout walking stick if I had problems with stray dogs.

If the owners of these stray dogs stand there like a deer in the headlights I tell them that I warned them to get their dog under control,

I warn them that they need to keep their dog on leash if they don’t want this to happen again. I also tell them that I would be happy to tell the police that their dog tried to attack me and my dog and that I was simply protecting myself because I feared for my personal safety. Trust me, police officers always relate to that language.

GATES DOORS AND STAIRS

dogs at the door

Going through doors or gates or coming down a set of stairs before your dog is an important part of demonstrating pack leadership. It may not seem like much to us humans but it is a big thing in terms of respect to a dog

This is why I NEVER allow a dog to go through a door or gate before I do. I also never allow them to charge down stairs ahead of me.

When I have a dog that charges through the doors, I set them up to fail. I open the door just wide enough for the dog's head to get through.

When he tries to force his body through the opening, I have a firm hold on the door and I don’t allow the door to swing open wide enough for him to pass. I close the door to the point of trapping the dog's head so he can’t pull it out and he can’t push his body through the opening. In effect I trap him.

I don’t slam his head in the door. In fact I don’t put one bit of pressure on the dog's head. All I have to do is hold him in place so he can't go through the door but he also cannot pull his head back out.

When you do this the dog will have a panic attack. You don’t have to say one word here. Just hold his head for a few seconds.

You only have to do this 2 or 3 times and they will respect the door as your space not their space.

I teach our dogs that they have to sit before they go through the door to go outside and then sit while I come out, turn and close the door.

This is a BLACK AND WHITE exercise for the dog. They clearly understand that they must go to the door and sit before they are allowed out of the house or sit before they are allowed back into the house (or car).

I even occasionally open the door before they sit and offer them the opportunity to stick their head in the door opening. They will always look at me and if dogs could talk they would say “OH NO, I KNOW THAT SILLY GAME.”

This work is demonstrated in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD.

LOOSE IN THE HOUSE

It can take weeks or even months for a dog to accept “your home” as “his home.”

I have noticed it take a longer period of time to settle in for adult dogs that are being re-homed the first time. Dogs that have been in two or more homes adjust much faster.

We never allow a new dog to be unattended and loose in our home when we are gone until it has been with us for a long, long time--like months. In fact we own dogs that are never left unattended in our home.

This does not mean we lock them in a crate for 4 years. It just means that I control our dogs in the home 100% of the time. They start off in the crate and graduate to a dog leash in the home.

So the dog is either in his crate, on leash, or, after formal training, loose in the house. When that happens my eyes are on the dog 100% of the time.

This may fly in the face of other advice you get. But I will be the first person to say “I TOLD YOU SO” when your dog chews up your favorite couch or pees on your brand new carpet while you run down the the corner grocery for a gallon of milk.

I will always remember back to 1972. I had a 1 year old dog that dug her way through the sheet rock in my apartment while I was gone (for 30 minutes). She was well on her way to making an outside doggy door in the siding of the apartment building when I got home.

People who allow dogs out of their crates too soon, or people who bring their new dogs into their homes and don’t KEEP THEIR EYES on their new dogs are the people who send me emails with behavioral problems.

So our approach is to have our crate in the family area. This allows the dog to watch the family going about their daily lives. This seems to speed up the process of teaching the dog that it is now part of our family pack. It also gives the dog a chance to recognize WHO OUR FAMILY IS. That’s very important.

Through observation the dog learns about our style of living.

If your new dog is a little shy and over reacts to family members walking by the crate it’s a good idea to leave a bowl of all-natural dog treats sitting on top of the crate. When a family member goes by they can drop a dog a treat through the front grate in the door of the crate.

FEEDING

all natural diet

One of the most important decisions you make concerning the health of your dog will be what you feed the dog.

We feed all of our dogs a raw all-natural diet. I strongly recommend you do the same.

For the first weeks in our home I am the only one who feeds my new dog and he only gets fed in the crate.This does two things: for dogs with a lot of food drive it provides a positive experience related to the dog crate, it also eliminates the possibility of an issue with food aggression (if the risk for it exists).

In the beginning I always put the food in the crate before the dog is allowed into the crate. I try not to put the dog in and then go and get the food bowl and put it into the crate.

I do it this way because I want the dog to look forward to going into the crate. If the food is not there when I put him in he never knows when he is going to get a nice bowl of food.

Once we start formal obedience training and the dog knows the Sit Command (and this can be weeks after I get the dog) I will change my protocol and make the dog sit before putting the food inside the crate. This follows the theory that “nothing in life is free."

Establishing this control simply adds to your pack leader status.

I never FREE FEED a dog (that’s where there is always dry food available ). Free feeding is a terrible practice that can lead to FAT dogs.

I never put food down and then fool with the bowl when the dog is eating. I get emails from people who think that taking food away or putting my hand in the food bowl shows the dog that you are the Alpha. These people are dead wrong. It shows the dog that they are an incompetent pack leader and it destroys your bond.

There is nothing wrong with making a dog sit or lay down (if they know the command) before giving them their food. There is also nothing wrong with your eating before the dog eats. But harassing the dog after giving him his food only stresses the dog and hurts your relationship. It’s just a really crazy thing to do.

You will not see an Alpha wolf eat its fill, allow lower ranking wolves to eat off a dead deer kill, then come back and drive lower ranking pack members away just because they are tough enough to do it.

Feeding a Raw Diet

eBook

GROOMING THE NEW DOG

Every day I make an effort to spend 2 or 3 minutes grooming my dog. Pack members groom one another.

When you groom your dog you have to put your hands on him. I have a very soft touch to my hands, which shows the dog that I like him.

If the dog squirrels around because he does not want to stand, then I firmly control him. If I have to verbally warn him and jerk the lead or grab him by the scruff and give a shake (assuming I am not working with a handler aggressive dog) I do it.

The instant he stops squirreling I go back to softly talking to him and stroking him. It’s critical that there is a clear black and white difference between squirreling and submitting.

I ALWAYS end the session by softly brushing and praising him and then releasing him. I use a RELEASE COMMAND by saying “OK” so he knows we are done. This is very important.

The goal of these sessions is not grooming but rather to start to establish control by showing him that I will control him but when I control him I am nice to him. It just is one more link in the chain of making you a pack leader.

VACCINATIONS - DON'T VACCINATE!!

If you want to do your new dog a huge favor, don’t ever vaccinate him after you get him. I strongly suggest that you educate yourself on the damage yearly vaccinations do to dogs.

I have an extensive section on our web site about vaccinosis. Over vaccinating a dog causes far more health and temperament problems than the vaccinations were suppose to fix.

Our position is if you feed your dog a healthy all-natural diet his natural immunity will handle almost anything that he runs into.

Too many vaccinations results in dogs with auto-immune or other health problems. I don’t respect vets that push these yearly shots for dogs.

Vaccinosis

eBook

OBEDIENCE TRAINING VS GROUND WORK

Hundreds of thousands of people go through obedience classes each year and after they are done these dog owners are no more of a pack leader than they were before they started classes. The reason for this is obedience instructors do not teach pack structure.

In my opinion formal obedience is only 25% of the solution for dealing with most behavioral problems.The other 75% of the solution requires the owners to correct pack structure and rank issues to solve their behavior problems.

Owners who ignore GW or owners who don’t give enough thought to their GW are often people who end up with dominant and aggressive dogs.

FORMAL OBEDIENCE TRAINING

How one approaches obedience training will vary according to the goals of the owner and the drive and temperament of the dog.

Over the years I have imported more trained Schutzhund dogs than I can remember. The way I approached their obedience training is to assume to assume they knew nothing (even though they were fully trained). I then started their training from scratch and took them through my basic obedience program.

Those dogs that had better training than others went through quickly, those with poor training took longer. In the end they all worked for me because the time spent going through this program taught them what I expected and how I dealt with disobedience.

The reason for starting from scratch was because even though these dogs had previous training, what they had really learned was to mind their previous owner. They now needed to learn to mind me.

This simple concept is why I never recommend sending a dog off to be trained by a professional dog trainer. On a long term basis this almost never works. The dogs only learn to mind the pro but after being home for two weeks they forget what "come" means because the owner does not understand how the dog was trained and what level of correction is required for obedience.

The result is they revert right back to the way they were before they went to the professional. These dogs are no stupid, if the professional would return they would immediately turn into the “nice obedient house pet”. That’s because dogs know what you know and they know what you don’t know.

LEERBURG'S OBEDIENCE TRAINING PROGRAM

The correct way to train a dog is to take them through three phases of training

The Learning phase
The Distraction phase and
The Correction phase
Some people will add that there is a maintenance phase and I agree with them.

In the learning phase, we teach the dog the meaning of a command. We do this by motivating the dog with a toy or food or praise from the handler. Force can also be used, but I NEVER use force in the learning phase.

The learning phase MUST BE DONE in a distraction free environment (like your kitchen or back yard). I believe that it’s counter productive to start training in a dog training center like PetSmart. No untrained dog can focus when there are 10 to 25 other dogs around it. The higher the distraction the less learning takes place.

Remember-- the higher the distraction, the less learning takes place.

IN CLOSING-- WHERE TO FROM HERE?

With all this said, I hope I have cleared up a few issues on pack structure, obedience training, and the family pet.

If you have further questions go to my web site and read some of the other articles I have written on living with dogs, or read some of the zillion or so questions and answers. You could also buy some of my training videos.

I also recommend that you visit or join my web discussion board (it’s free). My board has over 9,500 registered members with over 120,000 searchable posts in the archives. The number of members and posts are going up every month.

In closing I would like to say that a well trained dog always has an owner that is a respected pack leader:

“ When we established a meaningful bond with our dog we will both wake up every day wanting to spend time together. Don’t ever underestimate the happiness this kind of relationship can bring to your life.”

EMAILS

The following e-mails are examples of people who have not done their ground work properly.

The behavioral problems you will read about below are all the result of dog owners who have made a lot of mistakes in how they live with their dogs.

Example of someone who needs to run her dog through this ground work program:

Ed,

Our rescue dog has weak nerves - is easily frightened but less than we we got him 3 mo. ago. He is 10 mo. old. We are now doing GW per your article and he is living, eating in his crate that is in the dining/living room. I bought your Obedience video and prong collar and am doing all I can to train him right. Doing well with marker training, learning to sit going in and out of doors, etc. I have switched to natural meat and bone diet per your article, give Vit. E , Vit. C and Fish Oil, and am ordering kelp, alfalfa as well as Probiotics from you. (Read it can help the temperaments of dogs.) I am the only one dealing with the dog right now - am establishing a bond with him and he likes the marker training for food treats. His eyes follow me when I'm in the room. Will have the dog on prong collar and leash and supervised at all times after initial GW first few weeks when he is allowed in house out of crate. Am ordering drag leash, etc. from you as well. Am trying to follow your instructions to the T. Everything you have taught works just like you said. Truly wonderful!

Question: We want a family dog we can trust. Is it unreasonable to think that could happen with this dog, or can you never trust weak-nerved dogs? Only aggression shown yet is growling at son 2x over bones he was (foolishly - my fault - son was not supervised) trying to take away. I don't want to worry when the dog gets mature. Can you recommend any good books on learning more about pack rules and applying them to be pack leader?

Also: do you have any advice on fleas? Do you use natural products or Frontline, Advantage?

Again - your training and web site have been a godsend. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you know what a huge contribution you have made to our life. I have told numerous people about you and your site.

Barbara

Example of someone who needs to run his dog through this ground work program:

Ed,

I visited your website. Lots of good information. I wish I knew then what I know now. I desperately need your advice.

I own a 55 pound female Coonhound who is spayed. I adopted her from a humane shelter when she was 10 months old and do not know anything about her early years. She is now 3 years old and I’m having big problems with her. When we adopted her 2 years ago, she was very shy and timid. She was afraid of everyday household noises like the dishwasher, phone, furnace, etc. Since that time, my wife and I have built up her confidence and she has outgrown some of her problems. The problem is that she has picked up some new problems along the way with the biggest one being aggression.

She was an absolutely sweet and loving dog the first year we had her. She slowly started getting aggressive about 1 year ago by growling when we were near her food or when she was resting. We made the mistake of allowing her on the furniture and in the bed, we didn’t know it was wrong to do that back then. The growls eventually turned into small nips. She didn’t break skin but snapped and sometimes made contact. The last 3 months have been awful though. She bit 2 people and actually broke skin.

In the first bite, a neighbor gave her a treat and the dog dropped it. When the neighbor bent down to take the treat away, my dog bit her on the lip requiring 3 stitches. It wasn’t an aggressive bite but rather a nip that got a sensitive area. The second bite was very much different though. A behaviorist came to our house to help us with the dog. The behaviorist was sitting on the couch when I got back from walking the dog. The dog immediately went over to the behaviorist right away, sniffed her, started wagging her tail as if she was being friendly, and then lunged after her. The attack was unprovoked. Unlike other occasions, my dog did not nip just 1 time and walk away, but rather kept on biting her. In total, she bit her 3 times on the arm and was lunging towards her face. I eventually pulled the dog away. The behaviorist didn’t require medical treatment but the attack scared us all quite a lot.

The big question I have is can this dog be re-trained or should I put her down. I love this dog like a child and want to fix her if I can but I cannot allow anyone else to get hurt. I need to take some drastic measures but am unsure what they should be. Please help !!!! My wife has scheduled a time for euthanasia and I want to make sure there is nothing else I can do.

We took the dog to obedience training about 1 year ago and she follows commands very well. She is just so unpredictable and our trust in her is very low at this point. I want to fix her but don’t know if she can be fixed. What do you think ?

A. H. P.

Example of someone who needs to run his dog through this ground work program:

Hi,
I have a 3 pound, 11 month old spayed Yorkshire Terrier dog. Wehave a x-pen downstairs for her where we put her in during the night and when we go out during the daytime. (we make sure she is not locked up more than 4 hours during the day) The pen consists of a water bowl, big potty tray and her bed, since she is so small we have trained her to go in potty trays in the house rather than braving the -30 Canadian weather outside. Our problem is that she always pees and poops on her
bedding in the pen, even when the paper tray right beside her is clean. This problem does not exist when she is upstairs with the rest of the family most the day time, she goes where she is suppose to upstairs but every time we confine her in her pen when we go out she will eliminate on her bedding. We have tried crating her with only turning room to no avail, we have tried taking her bedding away and she'll just do it on the floor, we have tried giving her a favorite toy before we leave and it ending up in the garbage with too much poop on it. We are doing more of her bedding laundry than our own, and have no clue as to why she does so well upstairs with us and not downstairs. Will she grow out of this since she is still a puppy? She was getting into the habit of
eating poop until I stopped it recently by adding a little tabasco on it, she just sniffed it, sneezed and stayed away from it. But we have no clue as to what to do with her downstairs when we are not present to correct her. Your advice will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Example of someone who needs to run her dog through this ground work program:

Dear Ed,

My boyfriend and I have three dogs (Dalmation 9-Male, Weimeraner 4-Female, and German Shorthair 4 or 5-Male) and a cat. Our first two dogs we had since pups and regardless of doing many things the wrong way with them (according to the dominance article I read on your site) they have little or no aggressive behavior. They both sleep in the bed and used to be allowed on the furniture but neither of them show aggressive signs. About 8 months ago we adopted a German Shorthair Pointer- we actually found him, turned him into the humane society and then adopted him when no one claimed him.

At first everyone seemed to be getting along real well, there were some growls between the males but not too bad. He had some food aggression that we have since improved greatly on. Then one day about three weeks after we got him the shorthair got outside without a leash and was barking at the neighbor dog through the fence. I went out and took him by the collar (should have grabbed a leash) and walked him to the door. Almost to the door he stopped, looked at me growled and lunged at me, put his feet up on my chest, he bit my arm I turned and he bit my side. Not breaking any skin but biting none the less. He also has fought harder with my Dalmation on a couple of occasions- again nothing that caused injury but the shorthair gets his teath around the back of the Dalmations neck and pushes him to the ground. The Shorthair growls when disciplined. Is reluctant to lay down. He growls sometimes when you approach him while he is sleeping, and steals food and things off the counter and will growl if you try to take it away. He does not sleep with us- he has a kennel in another bedroom where he sleeps and stays during the day. We make him sit for everything- eating- going outside- petting. When we discipline we try not to wave our hands around or move our legs so he doesn’t think we are going to hurt him. We have seen improvement but he still has aggressive tendencies. When he is not aggressive he is very good. He lets you pick him up and hold him without struggle. He loves to lay on his back and when he is disciplined and we make him lay down he will usually turn onto his back. He wasn’t completely untrained when we got him- he knew sit, stay, down, heel, even shake. If I can catch him before he does something wrong,such as If I know he is going into the kitchen and I say “no” he stops and turns around. He may try again in a bit but I can still stop him. Sometimes he will get up on the bed and he may growl, but I always make him get off and I can do this without touching him He knows “off” and I may have to say it three times but I won’t stop until he is off . When he growls at me I make him lay down. I haven’t had any other attack incidents like the first one but I still wouldn’t put it past him. It would be great if you could suggest what videos would be helpful for me and any other suggestions. I have searched for animal behaviorist without much help from the GSP rescue, the humane society, or the kennel club. I found one in Madison Wisconsin which is about three hours away and she wanted me to bring all my dogs to her. I have not made the trip yet.

Sincerely,
M.W.

Dear Sir or Madam,

We have had a situation with one of our GSDs that has brought us to the heart-wrenching decision that he should be put down. However, after another night of sleep, we thought we would at least look into the possibility of intensive training/character analysis to find out if that might be effective in our case. Here is the situation:

We have two purebred GSDs; Sandy, our intact female, was bought as a pup and grew up with our children and our animals (we live on a 5-acre homestead with pigs, goats, chickens, cats, and pigeons). Sandy is now 4 years old and, although energetic, has never given any indication of any aggression whatsoever toward any humans (other than to bark fiercely at any who drive in after dark). Ruger, our intact male, we bought last spring as a 2-year old. He was impeccably trained by a Toronto K9 police officer (his former owner) and was home-raised with three little children. He is extremely docile and exceedingly obedient.

Our dogs are both pets and farm animals, in that they freely kill any wild rabbits, raccoons, opossums, and weasels that enter our property and thereby pose a threat to our livestock and/or food supply. There has always been a clear delineation between wild game and our children; the children are regularly assigned the task of feeding the dogs, and any one of us is able, at any time, to remove the dogs’ food without any show of aggression or complaint from the dogs. We all, including the children, are also able to interact freely with the dogs’ puppies from birth with no show of over-protection or aggression.

We have on our homestead one nanny goat with two 3-month-old kids. We bought the goat in January, so the dogs and her were not raised together, but we slowly introduced them by taking the goat out of her pen on-leash, allowing them to get to know eachother, then taking her off-leash under full supervision, then eventually, when it was clear that the dogs had no aggressive feelings toward her, we began to stake her out in various areas over the property to allow her to graze (our dogs are on the invisible fence and have full run of the property).

When the kids were born and began to roam with their mother, Sandy was initially intrigued by them, but quickly lost interest and after a few days again completely ignored the goats. Ruger, however, has always been intensely interested in the kids, displaying a very strong herding instinct; he would sit or lie for the entire day, near enough to keep a close eye on them, watching alertly with his ears up, and, if they strayed too far from their tethered mom, would round them up and run them back to her. His seemed to be a protective interest (we are still certain that it was).

On Monday night, when our 9-year old daughter went outside to bring the goats back to the pen for the night (they are her pets...and it was her birthday to boot!), she found Cupcake (the nanny) on the ground with both dogs pawing her. She yelled at the dogs and they immediately ran off and waited a little distance away. When we came running in response to our daughter’s hysterical screaming, we found that the goat had, indeed been savaged by the dogs. Her body was covered with minor bite marks (only a few punctured the skin), but the shoulder and neck area was the worst, with two puncture holes on her neck, perfectly placed by two eye teeth, with matching marks on the back of the neck behind her ears, as well as a huge gaping hole in her front shoulder. The vet confirmed that these wounds were definitely inflicted by the dogs. The goat has, so far, survived the attack and is under the vet’s care. Her chance of survival is less than 50/50, but we will keep hoping and praying for her full recovery.

Both we and the vet agree that what most likely happened was that Ruger was again herding the kids back to their mother, and that something occurred to trigger an attack; perhaps Cupcake didn’t like him chasing her kids, so she acted aggressively toward him, or may even have butted him, and this initiated a prey drive reaction. We have since learned that the herding instinct is actually a refined prey drive, and that herding dogs must be meticulously trained and monitored to ensure that the prey drive remains "submissive" to the herding instinct. We, of course, did not in any way train Ruger for this, as we just thought he was doing a great job on instinct alone, and were not aware of the connection to the prey drive. Our grave mistake.

Our dilemma now is what to do with the dogs. We are still 100% secure in our children’s safety with Sandy; she was raised with them from 8 weeks old, has never displayed any sort of aggression to any humans, and we are certain that she participated in the attack only after it had already begun and the pack mentality took over. Ruger is a slightly different story.

In our hearts we still firmly believe that he would never do anything to harm any of our children, or, for that matter, any guests as well. However, our heads are telling us that we should take warning; the goats were animals that he protected and cared for, and a trigger of some sort caused him to turn on them; how can we be assured that such a thing might not also happen with the children whom he protects and cares for?

Some other matters we have also taken into consideration are that Ruger is an extremely loving dog, in that he is often licking the children and pushing up against them for affection. This in itself is fine, except that he sometimes is very "pushy" about it, and will continue trying to lick them even when they complain and push him away. Also, on a few occasions, he has allowed his teeth to touch my or my husband’s hands (don’t know if he has ever done this with the children). For example, yesterday afternoon, our son (7 yrs old) was sitting on the front step, and I was standing beside him. Ruger was looking for attention from Justin, and began to lick him repeatedly on his arms, neck, and face. Justin absentmindedly pushed him away and told him "no licking", but Ruger persisted until Justin turned to him and very firmly told him "no". At that point, I happened to walk away, and Ruger walked up beside me and somehow allowed his teeth to touch my hand as it swung at my side. This has happened on a few other occasions as well, primarily when he first came to live with us; it is not that he actually tries to bite, (he has never tried that on anyone), but I am sure that the contact with the teeth is intentional.

As well, when Sandy had their first litter of puppies, Ruger would bark very aggressively at anyone (excluding our own family) who came too near the kennel to see the puppies in the first two weeks. We even took to tying him up if someone wanted to look at the pups, although this was more for their own peace of mind, as we really didn’t think he would actually harm them. With their second litter, he has not repeated this behavior.

Also, about two months ago, we had a friend over doing some work on the house. This friend has been here on a few occasions, but not enough to be really familiar with the dogs. As our friend turned to leave, he accidentally stepped on Ruger’s paw. He gave Ruger a little pat and a quick "sorry bud", and walked away. When he was about 5 steps away, Ruger suddenly gave a deep bark and tried to jump up on our friend’s back; however, our friend turned at the bark, and Ruger’s jump sort of glanced off his shoulder instead. That was the absolute end of the incident; once Ruger’s paws touched the ground, he was submissive as always. This behavior really surprised and baffled us, and we eventually attributed it to the paw incident. Ever since we bought Ruger, Sandy has been the clearly dominant dog, and we are wondering if these are some ways in which Ruger is trying to gain some dominance over some other "creatures".

What this long story boils down to is this: if we were to take Ruger, along with our children, for some strict training to very clearly instill in him the understanding that they are in authority over him, would that be sufficient to allow us to trust him completely with them again? What about our 2-year-old? Or the baby that we are now expecting? Or stranger’s children?

As I said, we did decide last night that he was no longer trustworthy, but we do not want to "give up" without exploring every last option.

Thanking you in advance for your help,

Chandra

Ed's Response:

Kill this dog if you like but this is 100% an owner problem and not a dog problem. These problems are a result of the way you live with your dogs. You can analyze this to death and in the end it still all comes down to your mistakes.

You don’t understand pack structure, you have not established pack structure and your now wondering why these things happened. If you want to save this dog read the free eBooks I have written on pack structure. Then change the way you live with them.

You allow these dogs to freely have the run of the place and then wonder why this happens. Sorry you and I don’t will never agree on anything to do with raising dogs. I don’t have a lot of patients for people who do these things – the only reason I take time to answer is because you seem to sense a mistake.

My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.

These dogs need to have separate dog kennels or dog crates. They need to be trained (they are not trained). They need training with remote collars. If you choose to go down this path I have done a training DVD on this.

Read what I have written on dominant dogs.

Kind Regards,
Ed Frawley

Mr. Frawley,

Please take a moment to read this and maybe reply if you can. I am desperate! I'll try to make this short. I have four dogs in my home, GSD female 19 months currently in heat, pug unnuetered 11 yrs, chihuahua spayed 18 months and the "problem pup" GSD female 10 months not spayed, Ruby. I also took her to the vet last week and she has checked out healthy with no physical problems. Here is somewhat the time line. Ruby has started (last month) growling at the others (only the dogs, not us), it started with the pug, when he comes into the same room as her and me, come towards the room she's in and/or comes up to me. Ears go down and the whites of her eyes show, looks like she afraid. The pug would leap at her and snap from the couch (my mistake) when she was first brought home (12 weeks old), so now it seems like she fears him. He's done this to our others even older then him, but the others over the years did fine with his behavior. She hasn't attacked him as of yet but the 19mon GSD is now getting after her when the growling starts, seems to be scolding her and we've had a couple mild fights. Ruby was food aggressive at 12 weeks only with the pug, but now she's extremely aggressive with the food, but not with humans. Even if she see's one of the others eating in another room with a baby gate separating them. I did yank her by her collar and lifted her front legs off the floor and that seemed to help. When outside she growls when the other dogs (primarily the pug) walk around as she's laying in the shade or when the pug approaches. I think she's trying to establish an alpha position? When she's in her crate and the pug comes toward the room she's in, she doesn't eve see him, only hears his feet walking, she growls and I can't correct her in this manner (inside crate) but will tell her "no." Last weekend was the worst outside, she was doing her growling as I was trying to correct her with the shocking collar, (first time using it for this behavior) and it seemed to make it worst, so I got in her face and stared her down and she finally stopped growling and coward crawled to me but stilled growled later in the day at a lesser level. I have read lots of your articles but can't find anything on this behavior. Is it fear of the pug, the other female in heat that is escalating it, too many dogs in the house, what did I do wrong? Or how can I correct this? We crate Ruby when she can't be supervised, still growls while in her cage. Some times in the day they all get along and then other times it's horrible. I have had GSD for 25 years and I've never came across this before. She is not a driven dog, she could care less about toys or treats. Won't fetch but loves to run with the other GSD while she's fetching. Dog classes are not eventful, no excitement or enthusiasm and she mainly does what I want her to do, but observes a lot. She's loving and calm, sometimes seems too calm for a pup. I'm trying to cover what I have observed with her behavior, but you probably need more info. Being that she's 10 months old, I'm hoping we can correct this behavior but I need some help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also I hate to bother you with this, but I'm getting lots of different advice and thought I ask you since I resort to your web site often. Thank you for your time in this matter and I hope to hear from you.

Lori
Canton, Ohio

Ed's Response:

You own a dog pack and don’t understand pack structure and its dynamics. While you may think you do – in fact you don’t or you would not have these problems.

It is only a matter of time before you have a serious dog fight. Its not an issue of if it happens, it is going to happen. If not this week then certainly before this female is 2 years old.

I have 4 dogs that live in my home. We have 4 dog crates. We never allow these 4 dogs loose at one time. We never allow the dogs to interact in the house. IT'S NOT ALLOWED!! because it leads to rough housing and problems.

If I had this dog it would go through my obedience program, it would be exposed to the work in my dominant and aggressive dog dvd and finally it would live with a remote collar on.

Bottom line is this dog does not respect you as a pack leader. Pack leaders determine when to be aggressive and when to fight. When dogs don’t feel like they have a leader they respect then they assume the role. That’s whats happening with you. This dog should have had the snot corrected out of it when it was a baby and showed aggression for food. That was the first time you dropped the ball. Not that’s too late and all you can do is what I detail in the 301 dvd.

I suggest you read the free eBook on my web site on THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING - that’s a start. This dog is so far past a stare down that it means nothing. That’s pretty obvious because the dog went back to its old ways later in the day. My web site has a large number of FREE eBooks that I have written. Go to the main directory for eBooks.

Question:

Mr. Frawley,

Thank you for attempting to answer every question that you receive; many experienced trainers would not make time for this. I have read your free articles on ground work, theory of corrections, theory of motivation and the answers to e-mails you receive. I have a 2 year old neutered male German Shorthaired Pointer mix and have followed your basic outline for establishing pack structure from the very first day I brought him home from the shelter. I have had him for two months now and have started obedience training after his third week of ground work. I believe he respects me as a pack leader inside the home, but sometimes pulls hard on the leash when we walk. Sometimes there is a clear reason for this (another dog or a squirrel etc) other times it seems as if he just “decides” he wants to walk in the lead. I correct him with a firm NO and a following “pop” of the leash (using a prong collar) but this seems to stimulate him to pull harder. The harder the correction, the harder he seems to pull. Also his body language changes when he sees other dogs on walks, he will raise his tail and stick his chest forward completely ignoring my corrections and commands. On some walks, however, he seems entirely obedient, walking with slack in the leash and his tail low, following me in a calm manner. His behavior seems so variable that I cannot tell what I am doing wrong. Is it possible that he could respect me inside the home but see himself as the leader outside of the home? Do you think I have an obedience problem or a ground work problem?

Thank you for your time,

Brittany

Answer:

The added distractions of being out in the world can sometimes put your groundwork to the test. I would back up your training to less distraction environments and make sure you are still being consistent with your groundwork all the time. 2 months of having a dog is not a lot of time, when we are working with adult dogs.

We are taking orders for a new DVD that extensively covers the way Ed and I live with dogs in our home. It’s basically the groundwork program in much more detail with 4 hours of info. It is called Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet.

I would also recommend the DVD on Basic Dog Obedience

You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the training steps for training your dog. A dog must go through training steps before it can be considered fully trained.

I also recommend that you read the article titled THE THEORY OF CORRECTIONS IN DOG TRAINING

I hope this helps.

Question:

I can't get my 5 year old German Shepherd out of my Mercedes G500 that I purchased last year. From the moment that I get home, she likes to be in the truck. She sleeps in the truck at night until she wants to come inside the house. She has access to the house from the garage. She usually comes in when she wants to eat or go outside through the doggy door or to socialize with us. She is healthy and very energetic. Nothing is wrong with her. I have had her since she was 7 weeks old. We have a huge house and large backyard and she has total access. Is this a sign of her getting mature and liking her privacy? My wife and I are both physicians and we take great care of her. Can you explain this? Thanks.

Answer:

I wouldn’t LET your dog get in the truck, you need to control her environment. Unless this is a hormonal problem, his sounds almost like an obsessive/compulsive disorder and it’s not healthy for the dog emotionally. She appears to be emotionally disconnected from you and your wife and this will not get any better unless you intervene. You don’t mention if she is spayed or intact, but sometimes intact females can go through a false pregnancy where they seek out a place to hide, I suppose this could also be the case if she has not been spayed. I have one female Malinois that will climb under a bush in our front yard and stay there if I let her. I don’t allow it though, even if it means keeping her on leash.

We don’t like doggy doors, because the dog can come and go as they please and they don’t need to look to us for leadership.

Please read this article about becoming an effective pack leader. The first sentence in this article says it all: “You can feed water and love your dog and he will like you but he very well may not respect you. “99% of all behavioral problems are a result of dogs not respecting their owners. This happens as a result of poor handling and/or poor training.

This article was written for people like yourself, people who have great intentions but not enough knowledge of pack structure. There are links within the article that will take you to other articles on my web site.

I would set up rules and boundaries for your dog, as well as a structured exercise program along with some training to get her mind and body engaged with you.

I hope this helps.

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